Photo/Illutration The storage facility of the government’s stockpiled rice in Saitama Prefecture on Feb. 12 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The average retail price of rice has declined for the second week in a row, the first such consecutive drop in about six months, according to data released by the farm ministry on June 9.

From May 26 to June 1, the average price for a 5-kilogram bag of rice at approximately 1,000 supermarkets nationwide was 4,223 yen ($29.10), tax included—down 0.9 percent from the previous week.

Despite the recent dip, rice prices remain nearly double what they had been during the same period last year, when the average was 2,136 yen.

Analysts attribute the continued price decline to an increase in the distribution of lower-priced government stockpiled rice, which has been released through competitive bidding since March.

Much cheaper stockpiled rice, released through direct sales to retailers, began appearing on store shelves on May 31 at a retail price of around 2,000 yen.

However, these particular sales were not included in the latest weekly pricing data.

Breaking down the figures, the average price for brand-name rice was 4,428 yen, down 0.6 percent from the previous week.

Meanwhile, more affordable blended rice averaged 3,898 yen, a decline of 0.5 percent. Both categories recorded two consecutive weeks of price declines.

A large portion of the stockpiled rice sold through auction has been mixed with brand-name rice to create blended products.

Such blended products now account for 39 percent of total rice sales, up from 36 percent the previous week and well above the less than 20 percent share seen through March.

ADDITIONAL RELEASE

To drive down rice prices further, an additional 200,000 tons of government stockpiled rice will be released and sold directly to retailers, farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced on June 10.

Koizumi said that half of the additional release will be rice harvested in 2021 and half harvested in 2020.

The expected retail price for a 5-kilogram bag will be 1,800 yen for the 2021 rice and 100 yen less for the older stock.

These 200,000 tons are in addition to the release of 300,000 tons announced last month.

Combined with the 310,000 tons previously auctioned off, the government has decided to release a total of 810,000 tons from its massive emergency rice reserves, leaving just 100,000 tons remaining.

(Hisashi Naito and Kenta Nakamura also contributed to this article.)

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